Mental health wait times to be cut for children and young people
Waiting times for an appointment to see a children’s mental health practitioner are set to fall, following a £1.5m investment in services.
Specialist child and adolescent mental health services (known as CAMHS) for young people aged up to 18, are provided in Derbyshire county by Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and in both the county and city of Derby by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Waiting times for a CAMHS assessment (excluding urgent care and eating disorders) have increased in recent years due to rising demand and have been highlighted as a concern.
NHS Derby and Derbyshire has now agreed to use over £1.5m from the NHS System Development Fund during 2025/26 to fund additional services.
This is recurrent investment and it is for the first year of a three-year programme to improve services.
It will allow for recruitment of more children and young people’s mental health practitioners.
The aim is for all children and young people to wait no longer than four weeks between referral and first contact, in line with the national target set by NHS England.
The extra investment will mean the two trusts can see more children and young people who have moderate to severe mental health needs.
Professor Dean Howells, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Deputy Chief Nurse, said: “We know that children and young people who need specialist NHS support for their mental health are having to wait too long.
“The skilled and dedicated children’s mental health practitioners who do this work are working as hard as they possibly can to support the children and young people who are referred to them.
“But there simply aren’t enough children’s mental health practitioners to support everyone who needs help.
“This investment will allow the two trusts to employ more specialists in this area.
“That will not only help more children and young people who need help now, it will also prevent their health issues from becoming worse by providing them with timely support.”
Mark Powell, Chief Executive of Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This additional funding is significant and should make a very positive difference to the service we provide to children, young people and their families.
“Since covid, we have seen a huge rise in the number of referrals to our children’s mental health services.
“We have introduced a number of initiatives to address the waiting time from referral to treatment, and to support young people and their families while they wait, but it has not been possible to turn the tide.
“Having this extra investment will allow us to employ more health professionals and offer more appointments, which can only benefit the children and families who need our help.”
Chris Emblen, Chesterfield Royal Hospital CAMHS Service Manager, said: “We are delighted with this funding which will help us to support more young people through our services.
“Our colleagues work to provide the services and care to our community and those who need us and this extra investment will mean that we can see more children and young people who have moderate to severe mental health needs.”
Access to mental health services was one of the areas flagged for improvement in the joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission report on Derbyshire’s county area services for children who have special educational needs and disabilities.
Education, social care and health services in both Derbyshire and Derby city aim to offer a graduated response to emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.
The graduated response is all about getting the right help, in the right way, from the right person, at the right time. It aims to stop small problems turning into big ones.
Services available include:
- advice and support online or by phone
- targeted support through one to one or group sessions
- mental health support teams in schools
- assessments and interventions for children and young people with moderate to severe mental health presentations
Children and young people who require an urgent care crisis assessment, eating disorder services or are triaged for a priority CAMHS assessment do not have long waiting times.
Information on mental health support for children and young people is available on the Derbyshire Local Offer website and the Derby city Local Offer website.